Chusetts



(No Model.)

T. D. SMITH.

- RAILWAY GATE.

No. 437,727. Patented Oct. 7, 1890'.

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UNiTEn ,STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS D. SMITH, OF SAUGUS, ASSIGNOR OF TVVO-THIRDS TO FRANK T.

LOUGEE, OF LYNN, AND HAYES IIOUGEE, OF NEVTONVILLE, MASSA- CHUSETTS.

RAILWAY-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,727, dated October 7, 1890.

Application filed July 8, 1890. Serial No. 358,053. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS D. SMITH, of Saugns, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Gates; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ot the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use t-he same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked hereon, which form a part of this specificaion.

My invention relates to that class of railway-gates which are of the pole or lever form and are pivoted to a standard at one side of the street or road which crosses the' track and adapted to be swung down across said street or road. As such gates are now constructed the radial sweep of the pole or arm, caused by raising or lowering the same on its pivot, is from its fulcrum to its extreme end, and consequently it is necessary that there should be no obstruction within the play of said sweep; but it is often desirable t0 have an obstructionsuch as an electric trolley-wire for a Streetcar-extending along the cross street or road and transverse with the gate and below or within the sweep of such gate.

It is the object of my invention to avoid the above difficulty, and I accomplish this objectA by constructing the pivotal gate-arm of two sections, the outer one of which is loosely pivoted upon the inner section and balanced in an outwardly-extending direction from it.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l illustrates my improved gate in its lowest position, or with the entire gate extending horizontally. Fig. 2 illustrates the gate partly raised, the dotted lines w showing the position it will assume when fully raised, the dotted lines showing the position of the balance-arm when drawn down against the main lever-arm.

A is an arm pivoted at a to the standard B in a similar manner to the arm of an ordinary railway-gate. This arm A, however, is much shorter than the ordinary arm, and is ot' a length to extend about to the middle of the street or road.

C is an extension-arm loosely pivoted at h to the arm A near its free end, and said two arms together are of a length about equal to that of the ordinary gate-arm, and adapted to extend across the street or road when in substantially the same line and in a horizontal position. The gate is thus formed of two sections viz., the main arm A and the auxiliary arm C.

D is a short arm attached to the arm C near its pivotal connection and extending nearly at right angles to the saine, and c represents a number of removable weights for attachment to the arm D. The two arms C and D form a balance-lever, with the weighted arm balancing the arm O, so as to retain the latter in a substantially horizontal or depressed p0- sition. Then the arm A is lowered to a horizontal position, the arm O will also be horizontal, as shown in Fig. l, and said arms will. be in substantially the same line, the arm C forming an extension of the arm A, and the two will have the same eect as one continuous pole. lVhen, however, the arm A is in a raised position, the arm C will still be substantially horizontal, with the balanceweighted arm D'retaining it in this position, as shown in Fig. 2, and a wire, as indicated by az, which would be within the radial sweep of a rigid pole of the combined length of the arms A and C is by the construction of my improved gate out of the play of the same.

The full lines in Fig. 2 show the position of the gate at about the middle of its sweep, and the dotted linesshow its position at the npper end of its sweep. l

In addition to the above-described mechanism, I attach a small rope, cord, or chain d to the side of the arm C, pass it under the fulcruin I), up over a pulley E, secured to the inner side of the arm A, and down over a pulley F, secured to the side of the upper portion of the standard B. If a wire or other obstruction, as indicated by y in Fig. 2, is out of the radial sweep of the arm A, but would be in the sweep of and likely to be struck by the arm C in its balanced position, the arm C should be drawn down by the cord d and folded against the arm A (see dotted lines z) before or while said arm is being raised, and the arm C will thus escape the obstruction y. After the cord d has been pulled down to draw the arm C against the arm A said cord may be Wrapped or Wound around the rear end of arm A or against any other projection, so that said arm may be retained as long as desired in its folded position.

`What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A gate-arm of a railway-gate, composed of t-Wo sections, one of which is pivoted to a fixed standard, the second section being loosely pivoted to the first and balanced in an outwardly-extended position from the same, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

2. A gate-armi of a railway-gate, composed of two sections, one of which is pivoted to a xed standard, the second section being loosely pivoted to and extending outward from the rst, and provided with a downwardly-extending Weighted arm for balancing the second section in its outward position, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A gate-arm of a railway-gate, composed. of two sections, one of which is pivoted to a fixed standard, the second section being loosely pivoted to the first and balanced in an outwardly-extended position from the same, and means for folding the second section against the first, substantially as and for the purposes described.

THOMAS D. SMITH.

Witnesses:

FRANK W. KAAN, PENNINGTON HALSTED. 

